The signing of Bobby Howry by the D'Backs today is probably of little interest to anybody but Giants and D'Back fans. Ordinarily, Giants fans would not be happy seeing a division rival sign a leaving player, but that may not be the case with Howry. It's not that Howry didn't pitch pretty well for the Giants last year, he did, as a 3.38 ERA would attest. A BAA of .214 would tend to back that assessment up. His K/9 and BB/9, while not terribly exciting, were not terrible either. Part of the answer as to why Giants fans might not be heartbroken to see Howry sign with the D'Backs can be found in his 2-6 record and 3 blown saves in 3 opportunities. Lot's of relievers have records like that, though, and no one thinks much of it. The thing about Howry's losses and Blown Saves was how much they hurt:
2 losses early in the season to the Dodgers.
A loss on 6/1 to Washington after giving up 3 runs in the 7'th inning of a game the Giants were leading 6-4.
3 losses on 7/1, 7/16 and 8/20 all on walk off HR's!
Those were all games the Giants could have won. Had they won 4 of the 6, they would have tied Colorado for a Wild Card playoff birth. That's how much it hurt! It just seemed like Howry pitched fine in low leverage situations, but blew every single high leverage situation he was put in. That's not what you need from a guy you pay $3 M to be your 7'th inning guy. So, despite his 3.38 ERA, Giants fans were definitely not clamoring to keep him on for another year. Pitchers who can keep your team in a game, or eat innings in low-leverage situations, can be fairly easily found for the MLB minimum salary, and the Giants farm system is loaded with potential bullpen arms.
Howry put up one more number of significance that does not bode well for his tenure in Arizona, a GO/AO of 0.55! Now, that is extreme flyball pitching rarely found! I think there are probably situations where Howry could contribute to a winning baseball team. Arizona is probably not that situation. Combine Howry's penchant for giving up walk-off HR's, and extreme flyball ratio, and one of the more hitter-friendly parks in baseball, and it's likely that Howry's signing is not just addition by subtraction for the Giants, but subtraction by addition for the D'Backs! That it may happen to a division rival makes Giants fans happy.
Fantasy Impact: None. Howry is not a guy you wanted on your roster last season and he won't be this season either.
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